Inauguration Ceremony of GALF, 2016 Keynote Speakers: P. Sivakami – Eminent Writer and Activist Jorge Barreto Xavier – Former Secretary of State for Culture, Portugal Poetry Reading by Landeg White Exclusive book launch: The Permanent Resident written by Roanna Gonsalves. She will be in conversation with author Jerry Pinto Flash Point 2016: “What now in Trump’s World” Faisal Devji in conversation with Ben Judah Unveiling of GALF artwork: Padma Shri award winning artist, Laxman Pai P.Sivakami is a prolific Tamil writer. She has authored five novels, more than hundred short stories ,essays and poems. Several of her works have been translated into English and published by leading publishers. Formerly in the IAS, she took voluntary retirement in 2008 to work for the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society. She is an activist and her areas of activism are towards the upliftment and empowerment of dalits, women, tribes and transgender. She edits a literary magazine titled Pudhiya Kodangi from 1995 for the benefit of the subaltern and runs a political party by name Samuga Samatua Padai from 2009. https://dalitskerala.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/most-gender-atrocities-against-dalit- women-p-sivakami/ http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Most_gender_atrocities_against_Dalit_women_P_Si vakami-nid-65931-cid-1.html http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2005/03/19/people/p-sivakami/#.WBnED_l97IU Jorge Barreto Xavier was born in Goa, India, in 1965. In 1986, when Xavier was 20 years old, he founded the Portuguese Club of Arts and Ideas, which became the largest Portuguese non profit organization supporting young artists. In 1987, he coordinated the I Portuguese Arts and Ideas Show. In 1992, he created the Paideia program – art in secondary schools – which ran in 180 schools throughout the country until 1997. In 1998, he created the Common Place, Center for Art Experimentation (the most important at that time in Portugal and one of the largest in Europe), at the Gun Powder Factory of Barcarena, in Oeiras, which he ran for about four years, until January 2003. In 2003, he became deputy mayor of the City Council of Oeiras, with responsibility for Culture, Youth, and Consumer Protection. During this period, he also coordinated the inter-ministerial working group for Education and Culture for the Portuguese Government. From 2006 to 2008, he coordinated the Rehabilitation through Art Project for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In April 2008 he was appointed director-general of the arts at the Ministry of Culture, a role which he occupied until July 2010. In November 2010, he became a member of the Council of the Department of Communication and Arts at the University of Aveiro, and in April 2011 he started collaborating with the Choices Program of the High Commissioner for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue (ACIDI). In September 2011, he became an invited assistant professor at ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute, where teaching Public Policy of Culture and Management of Creative Industries and writing his PhD on Public Policy. In October 2012 he accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister of Portugal, to work directly with him as Secretary of State for Culture what he has done until October 2015 (the term of the Government). In 2016, he is back to Lisbon University Institute, to teach, to write his PhD thesis and creating a new initiative, the Programme on Culture, Development and Society. Landeg White works in retirement in Portugal. His books range between literary criticism, history, ethography, fiction, and nine collections of poetry, most recently Living in the Delta: New & Collected Poems, 2015. His verse translation of The Lusíads (Oxford World's Classics) won the TLS translation prize for 1998. His verse translation of The Collected Lyric Poems of Camões (Princeton) appeared in 2008. (www. landegwhite.com) http://landegwhite.com/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/185912.Landeg_White Roanna Gonsalves came to Australia as an international student from India. Some years on she became a citizen and a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Award. The Permanent Resident is her first book. She can be found at roannagonsalves.com.au and @roannagonsalves https://roannagonsalves.com.au/2012/03/21/roanna-gonsalves/ http://indianherald.com.au/australian-news/indian-australian-wins-prestigious- award/399/ http://mascarareview.com/the-skit-by-roanna-gonsalves/ http://www.readings.com.au/review/the-permanent-resident-by-roanna-gonsalves http://www.syahee.com/page/roanna-gonsalves Jerry Pinto is the author of Em and the Big Hoom (winner of the Hindu Lit for Life Prize, the Crossword Award for Fiction, and the Windham-Campbell Award administered by the Beinecke Library at Yale University) and Helen: the life and times of a Bollywood H-Bomb (winner of the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema). He teaches journalism at the Sophia Polytechnic's SCM post-graduate media course in Mumbai (scmsophia.com). (Photo credit : Ashima Narain) https://thehungryreader.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/an-interview-with-jerry-pinto/ http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/author-jerry-pinto-wins- windhamcampbell-prize/article8301430.ece http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/a-conversation-with-author-jerry- pinto/?_r=0 http://theladiesfinger.com/malika-amar-shaikh-memoir/ Faisal Devji is Reader in Indian History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St. Antony's College. He is the author of four books, Landscapes of the Jihad (2005), The Terrorist in Search of Humanity (2009), The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence (2012) and Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea (2013). http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2013/11/01/book-review-muslim-zion- pakistan-as-a-political-idea/ http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=7007&date=2016-04-10&pageid=1 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/oct/17/alqaida.academicexpertshttp://www.sy ahee.com/page/faisal-devji Ben Judah is a British French journalist and the author of ‘This Is London’ and ‘Fragile Empire’. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-wins-us-presidency-pennsylvania- swing-county-hillary-clinton-lost-what-they-want-a7418381.html http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-us-elections-hillary-clinton-race- hispanic-black-vote-white-americans-fear-minority-a7402296.html https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/20/this-is-london-by-ben-judah-review Laxman Pai - When we think Laxman Pai, we think eyes, women, birds and swirls. The figures Pai creates on canvas using oils, or his line drawings and watercolours on paper - all have a style reminiscent of the Indian Miniature. Through his hand and in his imagination realized, the works speak of profiles and adornments that are inspired by the Indian Miniature but have been re-stylized by Pai. The dimension, hues and details of the figure have transformed through his brush strokes into a world of fantasy, where the human figure and nature meld, and are in dialogue. Born in Goa in 1926, and having gone on to formally study art at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, Laxman Pai’s artistic journey took him to Paris and then on to Northern America. The body of work he created whilst in Paris has garnered him much fame. One such work titled “Goan Village” was placed on the bidding block in 2012 by Christie’s, as part of the South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Auction. This 1952 work, done in Paris by Pai is a gauche on paper work, (24 x 18 7/8 inches) closed at $10,625 at the Christie’s Auction. Beyond the economics of his work, there is a part of his soul he has constantly placed within his works, and it is that vibrancy that constantly holds us captive - Nirula & Co .